COMMERCIAL IMAGE - President and CEO of Dolby Laboratories, Kevin Yeaman, left, and EVP of Sales and Marketing of Dolby Laboratories, Ramzi Haidamus, at the Grand Opening of the Dolby Theatre and World Premiere of Disney Pixar’s "Brave" on Monday, June 18, 2012 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision for Dolby/AP Images)— INVISION FOR DOLBY

COMMERCIAL IMAGE - President and CEO of Dolby Laboratories, Kevin Yeaman, left, and EVP of Sales and Marketing of Dolby Laboratories, Ramzi Haidamus, at the Grand Opening of the Dolby Theatre and World Premiere of Disney Pixar’s "Brave" on Monday, June 18, 2012 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision for Dolby/AP Images)
/ INVISION FOR DOLBY

This film image released by Disney/Pixar shows characters, from left, King Fergus, voiced by Billy Connolly, Queen Elinor, voiced by Emma Thompson and Merida, voiced by Kelly Macdonald, in a scene from "Brave." (AP Photo/Disney/Pixar)— AP

This film image released by Disney/Pixar shows characters, from left, King Fergus, voiced by Billy Connolly, Queen Elinor, voiced by Emma Thompson and Merida, voiced by Kelly Macdonald, in a scene from "Brave." (AP Photo/Disney/Pixar)
/ AP

This undated image released by Dolby Laboratories shows trusses prepared with overhead speakers before being lifted into place at the new Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The posh 3,400-seat Hollywood & Highland Center home of the Academy Awards is officially christened with a new name and a state-of-the-art audiovisual system that can project 3-D imagery and blast sound from multiple perspectives. (AP Photo/Dolby Laboratories)— AP

This undated image released by Dolby Laboratories shows trusses prepared with overhead speakers before being lifted into place at the new Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The posh 3,400-seat Hollywood & Highland Center home of the Academy Awards is officially christened with a new name and a state-of-the-art audiovisual system that can project 3-D imagery and blast sound from multiple perspectives. (AP Photo/Dolby Laboratories)
/ AP

LOS ANGELES 
At the recent premiere of Disney-Pixar's "Brave," an animated tale about a bow-wielding Scottish princess named Merida, the whooshing of arrows seemed to glide even closer to the audience's ears, a bear's roar felt even more dangerous and a storm sounded like it was swirling over the audience.

It's the Dolby Atmos system at work, the latest innovation in movie theater audio that's aiming to make the big-screen 3-D experience sound as three-dimensional as it looks.

"Brave" is the first feature film mixed entirely for the new audio platform from Dolby Laboratories Inc. "It's a new way of thinking," said "Brave" sound designer Gary Rydstrom. "We had to make sure we captured the opportunities that the Dolby Atmos mix gave us, without getting gimmicky."

There were also concerns about not overwhelming the computer-generated film with the new technology. "The choices that we made in the mix were based on what made the movie more dramatic or funny," said Rydstrom.

Because of Dolby Atmos' unique ability to aurally immerse and envelop audiences, the film's audio engineers had to craft the soundscape inside a screening theater at Skywalker Sound in Northern California instead of in a typical sound mixing studio.

Scenes from films such as "The Incredibles," "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" and "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" have previously been test-mixed in Dolby Atmos, but "Brave" is the first feature film to totally use the new platform from start to finish.

"The audience is way more sophisticated now," said David Gray, Dolby's content services vice president, following a demonstration of the system earlier this month at Dolby's Burbank, Calif., facility. "There's a whole generation who grew up with multichannel sound, so this is the first time a generation has really demanded this kind of evolution."

"If there's new technology that we can put into place that enhances an experience, then we're all for it," said AMC operations vice president Neal Katcher. "We're very excited about this test."

Unlike Dolby's previous audio advancements that added digital sound and multiple channels, Dolby Atmos boasts the ability to render and individually direct sounds to certain speakers. For instance, an explosion from a witch's spell in "Brave" can be pinpointed to one spot within a theater instead of just broadcast along the front, back, left or right walls.

The biggest update with Dolby Atmos is two arrays of overhead speakers. Depending on the layout of a venue, the speakers can be installed on the ceiling or on trusses hanging over the audience, as is the case at Hollywood's historic El Capitan Theatre and the massive Dolby Theatre that hosted the "Brave" premiere.